JayB

This may be true, but how stupid do you have to be to think that claiming that someone was too intelligent for the job is going to create problems for you? Any administrator with an ounce of sense would make up a more palatable reason to reject an applicant, and also realize that anyone on the receiving end of such a rejection would most likely respond with both disbelief and a strong desire to publicize the rationale? Anyone with an ounce of sense would also be able to project forward and realize that if something like that ever got out it would piss off all of the teachers on the staff, who by default are all automatically unintelligent and uninspired enough to fit in at that school. Amazing.

Interesting. Could you point me to the data on that? Sure--as someone above mentioned: mainstreaming. Let's not forget cancelling funding for separate courses for gifted kids either. You can pretty much pinpoint the beginning of the decline of American public schools to the day when parents lost control of their kids and started trying to be their friends, and when the schools let vague political nostrums trump common sense in the classroom. Both casualties of some of the voguish nonsense spewed forth in the 1960's. "I'm not your teacher I'm your learning enabler" "Johnny, let's talk about why you just smacked Mommy across the face with your Power Ranger. That's not how friends treat each other - mmmmmkay?" Hurl. Both experiments against reality with incredibly predictable results.

The one really brilliant, inspirational teacher I had in high-school (left a successful career to teach) got hosed by the union and left in disgust. She was incredibly popular teacher with both staff and students. She was also clearly Senior/AP English teacher material and got sent to junior high to teach borderline delinquents basic literacy when the HS had to lose one teacher due to declining enrollment. She was the newest teacher so she got the boot. The disrguntled/quasi-literate POS who also happened to be the school's union rep took her spot. Mediocracy in the truest sense of the word (e.g. rule by the ....). Incredibly lame stuff.

Excerpt: "I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology. I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president..... Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck." " Source

Who's really gone for good and who will we see again, perhaps reincarnated in the guise of another avatar? Most Likely: Redmonk/Fence_Sitter/Scot_Harpell - Anytime a topic even tangentially refers to something in/around/pertaining to/rhyming with/bearing a vague similarity to one of the former Eastern Block Countries. May also return to show off the manifesto renouncing grammar, spelling, and punctuation as vestigal encumbrances to the advancement of human thought and progress that he's submitted for his Senior Thesis. Pope/JKassidy: Next Bolt thread. Even money on this one. Followed by a tear-soaked confession and accompanying photos in which he admits he was a sport climber all along and much like Hester Prynne's tormenter in "The Scarlet Letter," the unremitting diatribes that issued forth from him were really the passionate manifestations of the bolt-clipping related guilt that's been churning within his soul for far too long. Frequent and ever-more-desperate pleas for partners to join him at Exit 38, Vantage, and/or the Big-Toys © structure in his backyard will eternally plague the "Climbing Partners" message board after the said announcement hits the screen. Fairweather: Partial TR that's abruptly cut off by his attorney describing the incident that insued when he and his son run into Al Gore and one of his sons on the summit of a PNW Volcano. Subsequent accounts of the incident will appear in the local press, Secret Service Briefings, and ANAM. Will parlay the notoriety that the incident brought him into a stint on the next episode of Survivor and a late-night talk show on "Hot Talk 570" on your AM dial. RobBob: Much to Jim's horror, he will resurface to post photos of his new Chevy Subdivision SUV, and pics taking the said SUV with aftermarket mudders, lift-kit, and snorkel mods on a joyride through sensitive coastal wetlands. Two months later he will resurface to post one more photo of himself kicking the almighty bejesus out of callow, sunken-chested, soy-fed anarchist who festooned his new ride's bumper with the "I'm changing the Climate" stickers, followed by MPEG footage of of him running over the same dude while legions of mullet-clad onlookers from the Carolinas pop PBR's, cheer wildly, and compliment him on the suspension travel he's achieved with the aftermarket mods. One lucky mullet in the passengers seat will report that "not even a mother*$#@ing drop" of his Schitz Ice in the ThirstyTwoOuncer cup on the dash-mounted beverage holder spilled during this incident. He will also report that the stereo and the Best of Skynrd tracks were "bitchin." 1.4 seconds after RobBob completes his post, JoshK will duly note that you can run over people and destroy wetlands just as well with an Audi, and get much better mileage while you're doing it. Who have I left out?

The actual content has been quite good lately, especially in the Ice Conditions forum and THE NEW ROCKCLIMBING Forum. If there's a better resource for keeping up to date on the ice conditions across the PNW, I'm not aware of it. The discussion about the route on Garfield has actually been pretty good as well, as well as the thread about why people putting up bolted routes may or may not decline to post here, right next to a thread(!) started by a Mr.E, where he announces a new route at Smith. Despite all of the whining about moderation, the tone of all of the threads in there has been pretty constructive and civil - (this is a plus in my book) largely because of the efforts of the moderators in there. Plus the pics in the photo gallery have been pretty sweet as well. And there was Smokeshow's killer TR, etc, etc, etc.... I guess it depends on what you come here for. There's plenty of other places where you can load up on the mindless, the profane, the juvenile, and the vulgar if that's what you find yourself missing here.

FWIW I've just been too busy lately to enlighten the wayward masses. Hopefully you'll stick around.

Moore's endorsement is the K.O.D for Clark's campaign. Second only to Al Sharpton's endorsement in as a liability in the eyes of the national electorate.

There is a flip side to this coin. People who have a steady job and a reasonable income who invest a considerable amount of time and energy in cultivating the dirtbag look so they'll look hardcore. They are climbing's answer to Trustafarians, and they are every bit as poserish and lame as the wankers who sport pricy-high end gear in an effort to secure the credibilty and respect that their abilities cannot. Same game - different angle.

I had my AT bindings mounted there and had no problems whatsoever.

I heard a killer dance-mix made from samples of Dean's Iowa speech on NPR this morning....

Somebody just post the fawking pictures already...

Looks cool but it's hard to place it in the context of the photo. Maybe some of the dudes who are in the loop could help out. Again - props to the fellas who snagged this one.

Video Here

Anyone catch Dean's speech after the votes were counted? It was sorta like watching Randy "The Macho Man" Savage give geography lessons while hopped-up on crank. The very definition of Presidential IMO

I set off about a dozen sloughs that ran 2-3" deep and 5-30 meters on the descent from the Castle Col back to the lake, but these would only have been fatal to someone the size of a lawn-gnome. That being said - we decided to bail Sunday morning instead of sticking around to ski the whole day after sizing up the conditions. All of the new snow was sliding off of the refrozen crust below extremely easily, and it seemed to us that several more inches plus wind-loading could generate some legit slides. It was a fun run back to the lake though - some nice steeps that'll be fun to visit in the spring.

I can think of no higher endorsement for science than its rejection by certain classes of people.

We stayed overnight in the castle-saddle in the Tatoosh - and a good 5-6 inches of new snow fell by Sunday morning. Should be pretty good right now.

Eric: Great TR's and photos. You should keep your site up even after you conclude your journey as it'll be a terrific resource for other climbers - not to mention an inspiritation to anyone contemplating an extended road trip like the one that you and Lucie are on.

Overnight ski trip in the Tatizzoosh.

I just ran into this post while searching for other stuff and couldn't stop reading Bronco's account of his climb with Judd. Definititely a classic. Great story - good lesson. Plus I couldn't resist resurrecting one of the thread resurrector's own threads.

Is that water or a pillar coming out of the middle of the upper flow?

Where in the hell are those photos???

Nothing a well-thought out network of trails wouldn't fix.

I think the odds of anyone being caught and prosecuted are extremely low so long as the pics are selected carefully and no one identifies the climbers/the climbers don't identify themselves. Post 'em if you've got 'em I say...